Someone I heard on the news claims this is the seventh worst quake in recorded history.

Japan does prepare and drill for these things. BUT, that said...there was very little warning in regard to coastal areas. Japan is so densely populated just about everywhere that it is difficult to imagine the death toll. Ace is showing a tweet or something that an entire town was wiped out that had a population of 77,000.

The global economic aftershocks of this event are unimaginable. The drain on resources to deal with this is incalculable. I fear for our economically weakened country. Thanks, Democrats. Thanks, Obama.

« Last Edit: March 11, 2011, 09:03:01 AM by trapeze »

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In a doomsday scenario, hippies will be among the first casualties. So not everything about doomsday will be bad.

Nothing contradicts it, just more info on what was done around the region is all.

Having said that, isn't it just a bit dumbass to leave ships tied up in port with a tsunami coming?

Depends upon the harbor. One closed and protected like Pearl may not be as prone to issues, the outer part of the harbor entrance may take a bigger hit, the inner harbor being spared. A more open harbor in a bay, or in anything shaped like a "v" where the point is inward, could be much more prone to devastation I would think.

Depends upon the harbor. One closed and protected like Pearl may not be as prone to issues, the outer part of the harbor entrance may take a bigger hit, the inner harbor being spared. A more open harbor in a bay, or in anything shaped like a "v" where the point is inward, could be much more prone to devastation I would think.

The shape of a bay is critical. So is the direction that it is pointed. So is the topography of the sea bed in the bay and the area directly ahead of the bay. So is the topography of the land that surrounds the bay.

The more that these factors focus the wave energy, the greater the wave height and the potential for damage.

Fortunately for Hawaii, they have had several hours to prepare. In most cases, simply going into the upper floors of a substantial building is enough to escape death.

These things are very hard to predict. The wave that hits Hawaii could turn out to be a big nothing. That's what happened with the last newsmaker tsunami to hit Hawaii.

The death and destruction are what they are and I mourn for the losses but the economic effects of this thing are what are worrying me the most right now. Since we are in a global economy there are ripple effects that won't be felt for days and weeks but when they hit they will be just as devastating from an economic point of view.

Japan is the third largest economy in the world. This is a national emergency for them on a scale that they have not seen since WWII. Everything will change for them... immediately. Purchases won't be made. Products will cease production. Entire industries could grind to a halt. When something of this scale hits an economy this large the effect for the rest of the world will be very, very noticeable and it will not be good. The more closely other economies are linked to Japan (like ours) the worse the effects will be.

What I mean by this is that we could have many companies here in the states where suddenly their customer base is wiped out. That puts their employees out of work. And the ripple continues.

Japan is a big banking and stock trading center. A disruption there could have very bad consequences for a lot of places.

This is a big f**king deal in ways that we cannot now even imagine.

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In a doomsday scenario, hippies will be among the first casualties. So not everything about doomsday will be bad.

The media made a big deal out of Katrina. And, rightfully so...it was big and the devastation was widespread for many miles across the region.

This is worse by several orders of magnitude. It is just not possible to wrap your mind around how much destruction there has been because for every photo and video you see there are hundreds of miles of coastal areas that will have received varying degrees of this mess. And it stretches inland for many miles in an extremely dense population center.

Finger of God time.

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In a doomsday scenario, hippies will be among the first casualties. So not everything about doomsday will be bad.

I take solace in the fact that we have the steady hand of Obama at the wheel during the economic tsunami to come.

Ugh.

It has been said that when the "Big One" hits LA the economic effects would be devastating for the rest of the world. This is like that but in this case the wave is coming our way rather than exploding out from us.

The mental midgets in Toonces' economic team have no idea what is coming. If recent history is any indication, they will be in total reaction mode rather than being proactive. And the reactions will probably not be very helpful. These bozos couldn't even properly handle a little middle eastern coup in Libya properly and that took weeks to happen. There are always winners and losers when things like this happen. Prediction: We won't be winners but the Chinese will emerge from this stronger than before.

Geithner will be hiding under his desk before its over.

« Last Edit: March 11, 2011, 09:40:27 AM by trapeze »

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In a doomsday scenario, hippies will be among the first casualties. So not everything about doomsday will be bad.

Oh, and hard luck for union thugs (and Toonces) trying to milk the WI situation for all it's worth. That news cycle officially died a few hours ago when this story started.

Hussein not happy. Japan should be very worried too. They are, after all, a traditional ally of the United States for 60 years. They must be wondering how motivated Hussein is to step up. I'm thinking that this is a perfect opportunity for him to demonstrate to the world that America can no longer be counted upon.

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"A strict observance of the written laws is doubtless one of the high duties of a good citizen, but it is not the highest. The laws of necessity, of self-preservation, of saving our country when in danger, are of higher obligation. To lose our country by a scrupulous adherence to written law, would be to lose the law itself, with life, liberty, property and all those who are enjoying them with us; thus absurdly sacrificing the end to the means."

Truly shocking and heartbreaking. My prayers are with the people of Japan. They're going to need a lot of help recovering. But BECAUSE they are a US ally I fear Obama will abandon them. I pray the punk will be overruled by Congress, military command, even Hillary.